My Master now 73 years old taught me how to make Dit Da Jow. It is my great honour to learn this secret formula. I have seem many martial artists doing hardcore body conditioning without medicine aid, in the long term this could cause serious health problems specially in joints.
p.s My lucky students this is for external use only, do not drink!
p.s My lucky students this is for external use only, do not drink!
Dit Da Jow is a popular Chinese liniment sold to heal external damage such as bruises or sore muscles. There are several different recipes for Dit Da Jow, most of which are considered to be a "secret formula" passed down through oral and written history of Traditional Chinese Medicine, martial arts, and modern Western science. Although Chinese tradition traces the origins of Chinese medicine to demigods named the Divine Plowman (Sheng Nung) and the Yellow Emperor (Huang Ti), who are said to have lived in the early 3rd millennium B.C., the earliest available historical records of Chinese medicine are medical texts dating from the Han Dynasty via several Chinesemateria medica.
Dit Da Jow is an analgesic liniment traditionally preferred by martial artists. Often a martial arts master blended his unique mixture of many aromatic herbs such as myrrh and ginseng, which were combined to stimulate circulation, reduce pain and swelling, and improve healing injuries and wounds.[1] The tradition became known as "hit medicine". Many people have also found this sort of liquid analgesic to be useful for reducing aching muscles, arthritis and rheumatism discomfort.
All bruise liniment formulas contain ingredients to stop pain, reduce swelling and inflammation and disperse stagnant qi and blood. It is composed of cooling herbs to reduce swelling and inflammation as effectively as ice; and warming herbs that kill pain, promote circulation, and break up accumulations of stagnant blood and fluids.
Herbs in the formulas according to TCM use "temperature" and "action". with each herb exhibiting an "energy" that has an effect on the body. Some are cold while others are hot. The overall combination of herbs in a Dit Da Jow formula determines its relative energy. Warmer jow is more often used in conditioning or chronic injury while cooler jow is more likely to be used for new injuries that may be inflamed. The action of each herb has specific uses. A Dit Da Jow should have one or two primary actions, determined by the herbs which are used in the Dit Da Jow formula.[2]
Most bruises are usually shrugged off by athletes and martial artists as minor injuries that will heal themselves. Over the centuries, kung fu practitioners noticed that large bruises or repeated bruising on one area sometimes created accumulations of stagnant qi and blood that could cause serious health problems years later. Trauma liniment was developed to disperse these accumulations and treat sports injuries, thereby prolonging the soldier/warrior/athlete's career and health.
